Motor vehicles typically include various interior panels such as in the passenger compartment area of the motor vehicle to provide various functions and/or aesthetics. Non-limiting examples of interior panels include instrument panels, door panels, consoles, glove box doors, roof liners, and the like. Some interior panels are configured as covered interior panels that include a cover skin, e.g., a single layer of skin material or a bi-laminate construction that includes a skin layer overlying a foam layer, overlying a substrate to provide an aesthetically desirable finish, e.g., grained and/or padded finish. There are various manufacturing approaches for fabricating such covered interior panels but typically a forming process for the substrate and a different forming process for the cover skin are employed.
In one example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,115, issued to Ash, a coverstock such as a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) skin or the like is thermoformed and joined to a shaped, foam substrate, to form a colored and textured interior auto component. In particular, adhesive is applied to a surface of the shaped, foam substrate and a vacuum is pulled through the shaped, foam substrate which is porous to facilitate thermoforming the coverstock onto the surface of the shaped, foam substrate with the adhesive. Unfortunately, this approach is not practical for many other substrate constructions that may be nonporous or substantially less porous than foam substrates, such as with certain fiber reinforced composite constructions that may be desirable as an interior panel substrate due to their relatively high specific stiffness (e.g., relatively light weight and high rigidity).
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods for making interior panels that includes a fiber reinforced composite substrate that may be feasibly covered with a cover skin using, for example, a thermoforming process to form a covered interior panel. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.